Anyone who follows the deals knows that there are many perfectly reasonable restaurants that offer deals.

I guess all those weekly sales at supermarkets and other stores are acts of desperation. And there is no fundamental is the difference between Groupon deals and Winter/Summer 'licious. I guess all those restaurants stink, too. Right.

Some good restaurants do show up from time to time, but I wouldn't number them "many". I'd say its very rare from what I've seen. Can you list some good ones that you've found that we can look out for and maybe try? I've tried a handful and have been mostly disappointed but I did get a couple good burger ones.

Some of those are called loss leaders. It's a strategy to draw you in, so you'll spend more money on everything else. That is not what happens with these group deals and the restaurants. In most cases, you don't see grocery stores on Groupon, selling $50 of groceries for $25. Unless you're The Butchers, and look what happened there.

Fresh and Wild did it to bring people in. I forget the amount: maybe 30 dollars for 15. I bought some and it worked out great. The cashier told me that I was one of very few people who bought more than 30 dollars. She was laughing with me at how everyone tried to come as close as possible without going over. Because of that it failed them.

I bought a Groupon for a place we'd been meaning to try and it closed before we got to use it. The way I learned of the closure was Groupon notifying me of the refund because of it. So not much risk if the place shuts down.

I look for groupons that can be used on drinks. I once got 50% off at a decent bar which ruled. travelzoo often has much better deals than groupon. For example, there is currently an offer for cafe boulud http://www.travelzoo.com/ca/local-dea...